UK VR Qualifier

What an excellent two days on the Wrecker in 25mph+ north easterlies. There was some variation but only a few seconds, which compares well with to 15+ seconds on smaller hills in less wind.

The outcome gives the UK two excellent three man teams, both of which are capable of mounting serious challenges for top spots.

Both days were really hard work but everyone pitched in to make it very slick. Thanks to Andrzej who took a brilliant gamble on the weather and CD'd the whole two days, Joel who kept the buzzer men ticking over and Steve who extracted cash from all and sundry.

Baudis' models featured heavily in the results. The Cyril (Kyril) was looking very potent in the hands of Pete Gunning, prompting Joel to switch to his largely untried version. I'd only had two outings on mine so I started with the Ceres but as things were going rather well I spent the last three rounds starting to rig the Kyril but never got passed taking the covers off as buzzing, launching and generally being busy kept getting in the way.

The Extreme was also looking rather impressive and young Smork kept knocking on the team door with his but the weather gods kept throwing a few curve balls his way. Team Manager perhaps, with Vic as the ambassador...

All in all a better two days you can't imagine.

1	Kevin Newton	14558.1	Ceres
2	Simon Thornton	14363.2	Ceres
3	Greg Dakin	14217.4	RaceMx
4	Peter Gunning	14100.1	Cyril
5	Joel West	13670.7	Ceres, Cyril
6	Jonathon Sage	13528.7	Ceres Lift
7	Mark Passingham	13362.1	Freestyler
8	Mark Abbotts	13268.6	Extreme
9	Tom MacPherson	13084.7	Skorpion
10	Martin Newham	13027.6	Extreme
11	Frank Hulton	12938.8	Sting
12	Mick Walsh	12431.2	Ceres
13	Martin Lucas	12237.7	Skorpion
14	Stephen Clutterbuck	11965.1	Viking, Evolution
15	Vic Eldridge	11219.3	Viking
16	Ian Mason	5507.2	RaceMx
17	Tony Robertson	3689.5	Aris, Ascot

Kyril

Flight time so far

Around half a dozen flights in-between showers in 30 mph on Mickey's slope at the Bwlch, followed by around an hour's airtime on a mixed day at the VR slope at the Bwlch, which is where the video comes from.

About the airframe

It only needs around 60g of nose weight – amazing. The RDS is fantastic; the complete lack of slop and blowback gives more aileron authority than the Ceres even though the geometry means that the end to end aileron travel looks slow using 3150s. In practice, I was able to take out all mixed flap to aileron and remove the negative expo that I use with the Ceres.

The practicality of the airframe is excellent. Fuz ballast is a boon and the semi-square fuz cross section makes it really easy to hold for launching. The aerial through the tail works perfectly; not a hint of a glitch or any dead spots.

Flying

The Kyril is a very sophisticated and harmonised plane. The reduced span and area made me think it would be much livelier than the Ceres, which it is but not in an in-your-face way. The Kyril has a has a certain refined feel to it which means although responsive, it is never twitchy. It's kind of hard to put into words but I was lucky enough to drive a Ferrari 360 Modena and that felt similar; raring to go and wanting you to abuse it but civilised with it.

It's very tempting to liken it to a Freestyler in terms of general handling with a hint of the Martinet about the way it turns. Aerobatically it is quite a revelation; it needs very little down to sustain inverted flight which makes the whole repertoire very neat and easy.

In short it is a fantastically effective package; immensely practical, fast, well behaved and a real joy to own, which makes you feel warm all over when you slide it out of the wing bags.

Bits, bobs, hints and tips

Like the Ceres, ballast is your friend. She's actually ridiculously slippery without ballast but whack some weight in there and she'll thank you for it.

The down going flap available with RDS was plenty to allow very positive approaches and landings in the lift zone.

The jury is out on reflex but just a little did feel as though it helped at higher speed.

Snapflap was interesting; I think it'll take me a few more outings to nail it down to perfection but I was getting some insanely fast, ricochet turns using quite a lot of snapflap.

More soon (assuming it stops raining one day)...

Kyril

Without exception, I've always fitted out my own F3F planes. However when you work 50 or 60 hours a week it means you want to spend what free time you have flying rather than building. So, when Jiri suggested trying their new RTF service I thought, what could I lose.

Well the Kyril (which was the original choice of name before Cyril came along) arrived yesterday and I can say without a shadow of doubt that it has been the most satisfying experience of any plane I have ever owned. The joy of ownership thing can't be explained - like an expensive watch, or your first Apple Mac. See the text next to the photos to get a flavour of what I mean.

The airframe fits together perfectly, no sanding of joiners of joints that don't quite meet.
The wings are fantastically strong and light. The leading and trailing edges are perfect.
The fuselage is a work of art - super strong, super light, enough room for the gear yet also very low cross sectional area.

The RDS comes installed. I have to say this is almost as big a revelation as getting my first mouldy 15 odd years ago.

It is absolutely slop free and centres perfectly every time. Loads of aileron movement and enough for around 70 degrees down flap.
They were perfectly centred when the arrived but the weird 4000 Tx set up meant I had to re-centre the flaps. No problem, less than 3 mins each to get them out, re-centre and pop them back.

Even lighter tail means even less nose weight.

Comes pre-drilled at the root for the aerial, see below.

Plugs pre-wired and glued in place.
Very neat balsa blocks in place to keep the wiring out of the way.

Peek inside and you see the bulkhead, which is a work of art in itself.

Servos are the fantastically fast and accurate Graupners.
Even the clevis' are ground away to get full movement. And, the pushrod has a reminder to secure the clevis once you've screwed it to length.
The servo mounting is really neat.

Comes with the battery that fits perfectly

The aerial is pre-installed and and comes with a joiner ready to solder to your Rx aerial.
Look at the top of the frame and you'll also see the battery connector comes taped up just in case.

The aerial is pre-installed in the fuselage and comes out at the tail in an outer that slides into the tail.

Summary
There is no doubt in my mind that Jiri Baudis is a genius. What he has done in a few years has been remarkable. His quality is second to none, his designs are fantastic and it arrives with that something extra you can't quite put your finger on.

Clearly the proof is in the flying but in terms of ticking all the right boxes before it gets in the air - RDS, strong, light and fuselage ballast with nosecone - the Kyril is unparalleled.